Sing for the Queen
by papiersam
Summary: And though saving her kingdom of white roses from a wildfire is impossible, Rise is given every chance to try. A down-the-rabbit-hole, time-loop AU.
1. Chapter 1: She and her Beginnings

Sing for the Queen; She and her Beginnings | Chapter 1

* * *

"I'll bring him back, I promise."

Rise quickly looked away, unwilling to watch Yosuke leave—or were they leaving him?

She let the thought hang as she ran on, clinging on closely to Kanji's arm. She suspected he was shortening his stride to help her keep up, and wanted to scream at him to just _save himself_ , but the frightened part of her kept her silent.

In most situations, it did.

They sped through the forest in a loose group—Chie up front, Naoto holding the rear, Yukiko and Teddie tumbling breathless between them—weaving between the tall trees until a booming crash made Chie spin her head and run straight into a trunk.

"Chie!" Yukiko huffed, crouching by her side. "Are you hurt?"

Chie rubbed the side of her head, but her eyes looked on the distant. "Yeah—"

"Hurry," Naoto cut in, mincing her words. She stood rigidly, staring in the direction they came from, then suddenly lifted her gun and shot. The sound cracked in Rise's ears, and she didn't quite hear what Naoto said next.

"There's just too many!" Teddie squawked, stubby arms reaching for his ears.

Kanji tugged his arm slightly in Rise's grip. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

Fussing some, Yukiko lifted Chie off the ground, and Rise caught the look in Chie's eyes as everyone dashed forward. Somehow— _somehow,_ how? _—_ she knew what was happening before it happened, and some part of her empathized enough to grab Yukiko's hand as Chie spun on heel and ran the other way.

Yukiko screamed—" _Chie, Chie, please don't go!_ "—and Chie's head twitched, almost looked back, then jerked forward, staring ahead and low.

Screaming still, Yukiko tried to shake out of Rise's grip, and escaped for a second before Naoto slammed into her and grabbed her by the waist.

"There's nothing you can do, Amagi-senpai!"

But Yukiko flailed, fought tooth and nail yelling after Chie. It was a funny image, in the sad-sort of way: graceful, composed Yukiko throwing a tantrum, grabbing and kicking against a now tiny-looking, hatless Naoto, jaw clenched.

It wasn't until Kanji stepped forward—Rise hadn't even noticed they'd stopped running—and gently but firmly clasped Yukiko's shoulder and said, just as tenderly, "Yukiko-senpai, _please_."

Like she just remembered something, Yukiko stopped still for a moment, eyes creased as they followed Kanji's arm to his eyes, looking like she she'd rather know the wrong answer. Though Kanji met her gaze, Rise watched warily. She wished she could tell Yukiko what Chie had meant to, but what? _I have to protect Yukiko_ ; _I need to save Yosuke's stupid ass and kick it later_ ; _I'm not running away from a fight_ —she meant all of it, Rise knew, and it wouldn't mean anything if she said it.

"Chie will explain why after we're out," Rise finished aloud, then put her hand on Yukiko's other shoulder. "Then you can chew her out for everything."

Yukiko still looked unconvinced and ready to say something, but the ground rumbled beneath their feet.

Teddie grabbed Yukiko's hand—any other time, the bear would have chirped victorious—and started stumbling ahead. "They're coming, no time to paws!"

Naoto had already picked up her hat and, while scanning their surroundings, hastily put it on. It sat crooked on her head, messing her hair up even more. Her crisp white dress-shirt was disheveled, her vest and tie askew, and Rise noticed a reddening pair of scratches along her cheek.

Maybe Naoto hadn't noticed; maybe that was why she didn't bother fixing her appearance. Appearance meant a lot to Naoto.

This was all wrong, Rise thought, as Naoto nodded at her and began running just behind. The way the forest dampened all the sounds of footsteps and fighting and breathing into one phasing echo was all wrong. The way the edge of everyone's thoughts touched hers was all wrong, sounded all wrong.

Running away was all wrong.

Rise felt two bullets pass her head before she heard them, and pulled herself out of her thoughts quick enough to see the watercolour black dissolve. She hesitated, but Kanji cursed quietly and pulled her sideways, swinging the other arm and cursing again when she felt his body falter upon impact.

Teddie wailed, "Bear-el roll!", and Rise watched him roll over to his side and under a trio of meter-long, black lurching—snakes? Vipers, she wanted to say, they were fanged and frightening—and barrel roll right into a pair of trees too close together.

Kanji swerved again—"Dammit, Rise, look out!"—and punched down another Shadow, two, three, and drop to the floor as one swerved overhead, high-pitched squeal from cutting air or its battle cry, Rise couldn't tell.

A few more bullets rang through the air, a few more grunts from the others dodging by the skin of their teeth, a few more curses from Kanji until Rise realized they were completely surrounded by the leaping viper Shadows.

"Can barely move with all these trees," Kanji muttered, throwing a stray stone at a Shadow that nearly chomped down on Naoto's shoulder. "Naoto, what next?"

Naoto backpedaled into a crouch, eyes steely cold. "If they're here, then the others must be—"

She was only thinking aloud, Rise could understand. No time to watch her words, watch the others' feelings. Still, Rise couldn't help a sharp, "Naoto-kun!" before looking for Yukiko.

Who was standing straight, taut as piano wire, observing the chaos around with a disconnected stare.

The words _stop, drop, and roll_ echoed in Rise's mind as she watched the wind pick up around Yukiko, caught in her red cardigan. Kanji shifted towards her, shouting her name, but Yukiko didn't even take notice.

Barely moving her lips, she spoke in a dangerously level voice. "If you're asking for judgement for your sins, Shadows, then allow me."

Simultaneous to her rising arm, fires burst at her sides. Everyone jerked back, and Rise watched in wonder as the flames licked the grass and trees, dancing in the building breeze.

"You shall have no forgivingness," she flicked her wrist and opened her fan. "You shall have no mercy." She swung her arm to her side, whipping the flames into roaring towers that sent embers scattering like fireflies, its heat burning the air dry.

Rise could feel her face almost scorching, and faintly heard Kanji over the cacophony. She managed to pry her eyes off Yukiko—there were tears, probably, but the fire dried them without a trace—to see Kanji pulling her upright and away, Naoto doing the same with Teddie, though with her focus on Yukiko.

Trees crashed around licking flame and withering Shadows, and everyone struggled to escape. But Yukiko stood calm, hair swaying, sparks falling like cherry blossom petals around her. The calm before the storm, the beautiful, fiery storm.

A beat, a breath; and then the moment when Rise heard Yukiko's mind finally shake the tranquility with a choked sob.

"You shall have judgement," Yukiko shouted, cracking, then screaming, " _You shall have_ _Hellfire_!"

The blaze erupted, rolling out in every direction. Shadows evaporated into dust even before the flames caught them. The ground, the air, the _sound_ scorched everywhere, all around, closed around Yukiko. Behind her, Amaterasu faded into existence slowly, lifting herself into a firm stand with serene poise, watching expressionless like a statute.

Rise watched—beautiful, beautiful, how _ugly_ —until she belatedly realised she was running away, screaming—how _ugly_ —as Kanji swatted at her arm.

Panic set snugly into the hole the fire burned through her, and Rise screamed more and ran more, pulling ahead of Kanji. The forest fire raged on behind them, the distant part of Rise wondering if Teddie and Naoto were okay, if Yukiko was okay.

But even that part didn't dare think about the other senpai.

It might have been minutes, might have been seconds, but not enough time had passed before Kanji decided they put enough distance between them and the char-black forest. They had reached a clearing—Rise was looking, but not seeing—and everyone collapsed panting.

There was no smoke, which was frightening, and the forest had settled into a steady slow burn, like a fireplace on Christmas.

 _How fitting_ , Rise heard someone think. She didn't try to figure out who.

When everyone's breathing eased enough, Kanji finally broke the silence: "Frickin' hell."

"Precisely," Naoto added, eyes shut and forehead against her upright knee. "We, I—" and Rise thought stuttering looked very bad on Naoto, "—the ring, Rise-san. Do you have it?"

"To _hell_ with the ring!" Kanji roared, climbing to his feet. "Are we just gonna ignore what happened?" He waited for an answer, glaring Naoto down. She kept his gaze, cool and almost sleepy, until he slumped his shoulders. "Shit, Naoto. Shit!"

He kicked at the ground, but it did very little other than send grass flying in Teddie's gloomy-looking face. "Sorry, Ted," Kanji mumbled, gently brushing the debris.

Rise wanted Kanji to say something about Teddie's fur, wanted Teddie to make some remark about Kanji being after him. Something to tell them everything was _still okay_.

Instead, sounding like he had been left out in the rain too long, Teddie said, "Yuki-chan has to come back. We still have to go on our date. I just hope she isn't that scary when we have dinner."

Kanji only made a noncommittal noise. Rise, maybe because she wanted it most, maybe because she was the best actress there, spoke up. "She wouldn't bail on a promise, Teddie. You know that." Then, cracking an almost-smile. "She was pretty _hot_ back there, though, if you get my drift."

Rise caught the tilt in Naoto's chin, like she wanted to object, but kept her focus on Teddie's hopeful eyes. "Y-yeah, she was un-bear-lievably _smokin_ '."

"Chie-senpai better watch out, cause she's next," Kanji managed to say lightly.

Teddie hopped to his feet with a _boing_. "On a date with Teddie?"

"That or facing Yukiko's wrath, both'll be a living hell," Rise offered just as lightly, and the three of them laughed wearily, painful on their lungs and hearts, feeling less hopeless and at least ready to start running for their lives again.

Naoto stayed stiff and stern, looking somewhere in the distance, touching her cheek.

With a sigh, Rise looked at her ring finger, and maybe it was the glint of gold that caught Naoto's attention, and she stood up with a huff.

"Teddie, can you find an exit?"

"I'll have to sniff around…" And he began to do just that, looking determined. Rise watched with detached amusement, but her mind drifted on to ask why she didn't try looking as well. They hadn't summoned their Personas again in the forest—the trees were too densely packed, and they were hell-bent on running anyway—but it didn't feel right calling Kanzeon right now, just for her to notice just how much was missing.

"This wa-ay-ay-aaaay!"

Teddie tumbled on his back, narrowly missing a viper Shadow shoot up from the ground. Like piranhas, dozens of them followed in suit, missing until they clipped Kanji's chin.

"Tha's it, I'm _done_!" he bellowed, summoning his shining card and swinging his arm to shatter it. Rokuten-Maou shimmered to life, calling lightning from Heaven to strike down on the Shadows. Rise ran over to help Teddie up and was facing Kanji's back when he said, "Get the hell outta here, I'll catch up."

"No!" came the collective, unified response, and Rise looked between Teddie and Naoto, the latter gritting her jaw tightly like she hadn't planned to speak.

Quickly, levelled, Naoto continued, "We get nothing from leaving someone behind. We'll all run—"

A Shadow lurched at her almost as suddenly as Kanji grabbed her. He then hesitated, and a little less forcefully pushed her at Rise and Teddie, Rokuten-Maou rearing for another Maziodyne. "I'll keep 'em busy, hurry and _go!_ "

Looking all together affronted, ruffled, and worried, Naoto caught her balance and nodded, back to Kanji. "When we get far enough, I expect you to follow behind us."

"What're you still doin'? Get movin'!"

And with crashing lightning as their popgun, the three jolted into a run, Rise and Teddie looking back at Kanji waving his arms wide and taunting, "C'mon, I'm right here!"

Rise returned her gaze forward, trying to see Naoto's expression out of the corner of her eye. When she couldn't, she focused on running faster, and quickly felt the pressing emptiness of not having Kanji's arm to guide her.

They were hardly a minute into escaping when Naoto breathlessly called out, "Persona!"

Her card spun rapidly in a blue fire before she mimed shooting at it with her hand. It shattered, sounding like glass breaking in another room, and Yamato-Takeru burst to life, a pale white against the faint glow. He only nodded curtly, familiarly, before zipping away behind them.

Rise hadn't asked for an explanation, but ever-reasonable, Naoto offered one: "If we're almost out of here, there's no reason for me to need my Persona with me right now."

"Wow, Nao-chan, you _really_ let yourself go!" Teddie practically giggled. When Naoto shot a glare at him like she would a bullet, he shut his eyes and hummed happily. "Get it? Because it's yourself? Your Persona? Bear-y clever, huh?"

Rise wanted to laugh and roll her eyes at the same time, but Naoto quickly snapped, "Are we almost at the exit?"

Teddie blinked his eyes a few times, as though he had completely forgotten the situation and the gravity it carried. Then, creasing his brow, he nodded. "Just a bit ahead, I can smell it."

Rise searched the open field ahead of her; the prairie went on until it met the horizon. She couldn't see any outdated television boxes, or any rips in sky to escape into. All she could see was the sea of black that spread wide and far—

"Oh no…" Rise breathed, stumbling to a stop and falling to her knees. Teddie stopped a few paces ahead of her, and Naoto awkwardly crumpled to the ground as though she had tried stubbornly not to.

Teddie instead seemed to be filled with panicked energy, circling with his paws up and repeating, "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, _oh no_!"

Between the _spoing_ from Teddie's footsteps and his yelps, Rise heard Naoto huff unevenly—a pattern of a few short, controlled breaths before a long, shaky cough that reached deep. She watched her carefully, then, as Naoto moved her mouth trying to speak but failed and dug her fingers deeper into the dirt.

Rise noted the absence of constant _thinking_ that often vibrated in her head when she was near Naoto, and then cautiously asked, "Is Kan—your Persona, is he okay?"

Another failed attempt, then almost through sheer frustration, Naoto managed a, "Fine. Must be the distance. Teddie!" Hearing his name, Teddie snapped straight up and saluted. "Is there-is there another way?"

"I'm _trying_ , but we have to go through all _that_!"

Naoto tried to pull herself up, but settled for lifting only her head. "Then we run through."

"We can't!" Rise protested, like she wanted to for the past few ideas: desperate and fragile. "You can't even stand—"

"I'm fine!"

"And we only have one Persona left to fight with—"

Teddie stiffened.

"And please, _please_ , let's just wait for the others, or just stay here, or do _something else than run_!"

Naoto lurched forward, almost hitting the ground nose-first, before shouting, "We have to secure the ring, nothing else matt—"

"Don't say that!" Rise bit back, but only because she couldn't bear to hear Naoto say what they all knew in a voice that sounded so _resigned_.

"Teddie knows what to do."

They both raised their heads to see Teddie stand, head dipped low but eyes burning. "Teddie will save you."

"H-how?" Rise gasped, but knew—she could practically hear his mind bellow—that he was going to do what everyone else did.

They were all the same, all the same self-sacrificing heroes, all of them.

Teddie even looked like the self-sacrificing hero, comically so. "Kamui will clear a path through those Shadows, and send them running with their tails between their legs!"

"No, no way!"

"Now, now, Princess." Teddie lifted his paw to his mouth, thinking. "Well, Princess and Prince. But not to each other, to me! Umm…" He shook his head. "Either way, it's my job as your _stud_ to protect you."

Rise shook her head, locks bouncing. "Enough with all of that, enough with the lame one-liners."

"Rise."

Rise looked at Naoto, Naoto looked at Rise. Teddie looked at Naoto and Rise.

Naoto paused, then pulled herself to her feet, nodding at Teddie. "You're _certain_ it's just beyond the Shadows?"

Teddie nodded back firmly, familiarly. "Paw-sitive."

"Then—"

"I said _no_!"

Rise tried—she tried _so hard_ —to stare Naoto into thinking of anything else. But her eyes drifted to the scratch on her cheek, and her mind drifted to reckless kicking and screaming.

She would have done just that, she told herself, if Naoto hadn't already been through it once.

Rise slowly stood up, grumbling gingerly. "Teddie, you better bring everyone back before dinner or I'm _so_ gonna cover you in rotten tofu."

"Not my soft, soft fur!"

"Hoh yeah, all over it. So you better not mess up!"

Teddie dropped his hands to his sides, paused, then bowed his head and gestured ahead. "After you, m'lady."

Rise sucked in a deep breath and held it until her lungs hurt. Then, she dashed off with a, "Stupid bear!"

The Shadow sea was maybe fifty paces ahead, growing closer and larger, so Rise reasoned that slowing down just a bit to stay closer to Naoto was reasonable enough and totally not just because she wasn't quite as brave alone.

Twenty paces to the fray, and Rise felt the temperature drop so low she could almost taste the air frost over. From overhead and growing closer, she heard Teddie roar.

"I'm the King of this world, Shadows, and you better bear-lieve I'm going to execute you _all_ for attacking it!"

Like an eclipse over the sun, a massive shadow passed over Rise and Naoto, and Rise dared looked up to see Kamui soar over them, Teddie standing heroically on top and pointing forward like he was leading an army.

Around the pair, spots of the atmosphere crumpled into itself, forming sharp icicles and small icebergs that floated a moment before rushing forward. Rise kept her eyes on them as they crashed into the black sea in front of her—she hadn't noticed she had already stepped on one of the snakes underfoot, but a few steps further and the ground was clear.

Clear was a bit too nice a way to put it, though; the grass snapped under her shoes and the dirt felt brittle. Everything took on a grey-blue hue, and too quickly Rise felt shivers creep up on her.

She hugged herself tightly and winced, pain shooting up her arm at the contact. She hazarded a look at it; the shirt and undershirt were burned through, bearing red skin. She bitterly thought the cold might do well for the burn she didn't remember getting before moving her hand to her shoulder and soldiering on.

Ice crashed, glass shards scattered, and Shadows vanished as far as Rise could see, but no television in sight. She couldn't hear her own footsteps over the noise, but her thoughts amplified and desperation began to set in: frostbite, hypothermia, slipping and falling on her face and _dying even when everyone threw themselves away just to save the stupid ring_ —

It practically had a halo over it.

Off to her left stood a pile of retro television boxes, most with cracked screen or crooked antennae. She tried to switch her momentum into a turn, but tripped and bent forward to keep herself from falling. She slowed to a stop and spun on heel, seeing Naoto practically limp a few meters behind before facing the TVs.

"Naoto!" Rise screamed, but couldn't even hear herself. Instead, she grabbed her arm as she approached—she was cold to the touch, and her head piped something about reflecting the inside—and wrapped the other one around her waist, receiving quite unwanted resistance.

Still, leaning on each other, Rise guided them to the set in an unbalanced trot that ended in a half-leap through the screen, Teddie's growls fading into the static hum of the portal.

In the short moments it took to phase between the worlds, Rise begged herself to believe she wasn't leaving anyone behind, but instead waiting for them to return.

* * *

She crashed into pale-yellow linoleum tiles, yelping but clinging tightly to Naoto's arm. She fell on her side, but didn't lay still for long; she drew her legs up and shivered, hiccupping. She felt her hair tangle over her face, and overall felt not at all pretty, not even decent, but she felt _safe_.

She let that sink in.

She needed to.

She—

"Rise-san?"

Rise realised she had been staring off at a corner of the ceiling, and that Naoto was gently shaking her. She also noticed the arm under her weight burn, and the pins in her heels, and the ache in her lungs.

"Rise-san."

She really didn't want to answer; she wanted to stay still for a while longer, to not have to keep moving and running and facing things for just a little longer.

But when Naoto drew her hand back and inspected Rise with that look halfway between scrutiny and concern, she told herself it was no time to be selfish and pushed herself upright.

Reluctantly, she let go of Naoto's arm to fix her hair, and if Naoto noticed—how could she not, Rise was practically suffocating it—she didn't show it, instead focusing on Rise's hurt arm.

Well, Rise chose to think that, slowly closing her fist to hide the ring.

"Are you hurt?" Naoto asked, voice deep, all business.

 _Yeah_. "I'm okay," Rise said. "Just a light burn, I think. You?"

"Fine," Naoto said curtly, adjusting her hat. Rise wanted to argue that no, this was no time to act tough and detached, but the better part of her knew one of them had to.

Still, she couldn't help but add, "You sure? You did leave a part of yourself behind there."

Naoto made a gesture that was somewhere between brushing the thought away and looking for a hand to hold before standing up, studying their surroundings. Rise followed in suit, noting the snow drifting down gently over the empty road, sparkling even more if the fell into the streetlamp spotlight.

"We should catch the evening bus to the hospital," Naoto said after a modest pause. "Do you have the time?"

Rise shook her head, then pulled out a silver pocket watch. Naoto raised an eyebrow, and Rise explained, "An officer—and sort of an old friend, I guess—gave this to me a few days ago, but it's not working." Rise unlocked the latch, lifting the worn cover to show Naoto the hands stuck at 9:15.

Rise watched Naoto inspect the watch, eyes tight and jaw loose, heard her unconciously hum quietly in thought to the tune of that thirty's Sherlock radio show Rise knew she loved, the one Kanji couldn't stop talking about once he tried it, too, driving the senpai crazy.

And despite herself, despite the pressing atmosphere, despite the weight of the ring on her finger, Rise smiled.

A small distraction, a moment of normalcy.

But, the sooner they saved everything, the sooner they could get those moments back.

"I meant to bring it to you earlier, but I forgot because of, well…all this. Everything that happened."

Naoto kept her focus on the watch and was about to touch it until Rise's hesitation, where she looked back up and creased her brow, nodding. "Right. Well," Naoto started walking, fixing the cuff of her shirt and looking like business. "We'll certainly find a clock near the exit, and catch a bus if we can. Otherwise, I suppose we can make a small detour to your house and take your scooter."

Rise kept pace with Naoto. "And when we get there?"

Naoto paused, but didn't miss a beat. "The trip will give us time to figure that out."

"Good."

A few paces of settling silence found them at the escalator, and though Naoto had remained switched in Detective-on-a-Case Mode, Rise found that she was comfortable: they had a plan, they were safe, and there was just enough left to chance in their plan for her to feel at home.

Keeping her eyes ahead as they got off the escalator, Naoto asked, "An officer?"

"Hmm?"

"The officer acquaintance that gave you the watch, what was his name?"

"Oh. Officer Kurosawa. And," Rise's eye caught the Risette section, filling her up like sarsaparilla—equally parts bitter and sweet. "He's more than an acquaintance. It's like, we _would_ be friends if we didn't have to keep things so professional."

"Kurosawa…" Naoto muttered, likely trying to match the name to a face in her mind's database. Her eyes distractedly caught the digital clock against the far wall, and she shook her head lightly. "We'll talk about it later. Something doesn't…in any case, we've got about five minutes until the next bus is scheduled to arrive."

Rise nodded. "Running again, right? Inoue-san will be so proud of me," she said, the sarsaparilla from before bubbling back up.

They stopped for a second just before the automatic opening doors as they lagged in response. Then, things moved in slow motion, the sort that changed beat so suddenly Rise felt less a part of it and more of a spectator.

A frigid breeze clawed between the widening gap of the doors, and the two braced themselves before storming off onto the streets.

It felt like jumping through the television: from the elevator music and background bustle of a warm coloured Junes into the cool, dark scheme of Inaba's evening streets. The temperature barrier sent a ringing through Rise's ears until they hit the parking lot gravel: the sound of Naoto's thick-soled boots and Rise's thin flats echoed once, quickly swallowed by the silent night.

And for a heartbeat—the time between footsteps—that stretched out in slow motion, it stayed deafeningly quiet.

Rise could have sworn she heard the bullet push through the air before she heard it leave the pistol.

By unspoken decision, Rise and Naoto ducked and charged forward, faster. All quiet was lost to the frighteningly recognized sounds of an all-out getaway; pounding footfalls, ragged breaths, and someone was saying or screaming _something_.

"I don't know, Rise, just keep running!" Naoto shouted back with so much control Rise shut her mouth before she noticed it was open.

Two gunshots followed. Rise screamed—she knew it was her this time—and tripped.

She wasn't quite sure how, but gravity spun her wildly until her back hit cold metal and she landed on her feet in a crouch. When her head stopped spinning, she noticed Naoto crouch beside her, arm held out to keep Rise from falling.

"Pardon me," Naoto whispered, eyes looking around the car's bumper. "You were falling."

Rise hoped her whisper wasn't too much of a wheeze. "Thanks. But what about-"

"We're being pursued." Naoto said simply, lifting her head a bit to increase her scope. "They're far, but have good aim."

"Then," Rise tried to calm her racing mind enough to contribute, or at least make some sense of the situation jump. Fighting in the TV world was one thing, where they had Dias and Beads, but a bullet in the real world was a lot more permanent. "It's dark, so he can't see us, right?"

Naoto dropped back down, one knee pulled up and one on the ground. She gave Rise a tight frown. "Junes lights: we're walking targets. Additionally," she clenched her jaw for a moment, then continued. "We don't know what he's armed with. He can hit moving targets in the dark, so we can only assume he's a professional. I can only guess his trajectory from—"

"Wait," Rise said more calmly than she meant to—hadn't really meant to say anything at all, but her mouth moved faster than her brain. " _Hit_ moving…did he..?"

Naoto barely let her finish. "He's right of us, facing the car. As soon as we—"

"Naoto-kun, you're shot!"

She waved her hand dismissively, almost annoyed. "Irrelevant. He has the upper hand—"

But Rise stopped listening, instead leaning forward so she could see past Naoto's profile. It took her a while—her eyes were still adjusting to the distant light of Junes—but she saw a blooming patch on Naoto's far shoulder.

On reflex, Rise reached forward and grabbed it; on reflex, Naoto pushed her hand away.

"Naoto—"

"Rise-san, there's no time!" Naoto snapped, looking a bit—panicked? No, Naoto didn't panic, Rise wouldn't know how that would look on her—looked a bit hassled. "We'll split ways, you head to the bus—we'll hope he doesn't aim for a bus. I'll chase him down, if he's staying his distance he must not want to be seen so—"

"No-" Rise screamed, but managed only that much until Naoto shoved her gun into Rise's hands.

"The safety is off, just pull the trigger. Brace for recoil, aim with your good eye," Naoto listed off mechanically. "Face offs are my element, you're best to get to the hospital, don't look back. Secure the ring, complete the mission."

Rise's hands involuntarily tightened around the gun. It weighed heavy in her hands, almost as much as the ring. "Naoto—"

" _Please_ , Rise-san, there's no time. Once you get to the hospital, remain there." Then, Naoto smiled wryly. "I might end up meeting you there."

"Oh God, Naoto-kun. Was that—"

"A joke, somewhat." The smile remained. "Maybe this really is the end."

Rise wasn't sure when she agreed to the plan, wasn't sure what part of her made that decision, but she shifted forward, ready to run _._

 _Again_ , some part of her said.

Naoto pulled down the brim of her cap, and her fingers left dark marks. She peered around the car, then looked back at Rise, all business.

They nodded at each other, then spun around and bolted.

Rise didn't think, didn't look back, didn't feel. There was no fatigue, no cold, no loneliness for—she wanted to say hours that felt like seconds—a few minutes until the backlights of the bus came into view, flashing red as it took the left.

She sped up, some part of her still could, across the intersection without a thought, and skidded to the stop just as the doors closed behind a passenger. He turned his head back as Rise stopped, and waved his hand at the doors until they opened again.

Rise tried to thank him, but it came out as a few hoarse breaths. In her place, he smiled and said, "Cheers," before his eyes darted to the gun in her hands.

In the light from the bus, she saw his face shift into alarm before he backpedaled, stumbled, and pivoted completely into a full-out dash.

"Wait!" Rise shouted, stuffing the weapon in her pocket and pulling her shirt over it to cover the barrel sticking out.

She heard a gruff voice from the bus—the driver, looking impatient. Rise climbed on cautiously, but the driver seemed too apathetic to care about the other passenger, or the pocket that Rise avoided when pulling out change.

She hadn't realized she was shaking until she took the window seat at the end of the empty back row. She also hadn't noticed how frighteningly tight her throat was feeling until she tried to take a deep breath.

 _They'll be—they're fine. They're fine, they're fine, they're fine_.

And though repeating things was her wont as a popstar, she hated every notion of it. She hated how much everything was repeating.

For the next half-hour, Rise was on a constant cycle of worry, hold back tears, and bite down on her fears with a confidence she lost too soon. Rinse, and repeat.

Repeat.

Rise barely registered it when she stumbled off the bus—did someone say something to her?—but she when sirens wailed behind and beyond her, saw the red lights against the soft white of the hospital rooms, she snapped out of her daze and—rinse, repeat—began to run.

And— _rinse, repeat_ —she was helpless to save herself.

She wasn't sure if she had enough energy to scream even if she had the time.

She could feel _red_ : piercing, intense, burning, _Yukiko and fire and—_

Then she saw it, in blinding lights like when she was on stage. They flashed blindingly in her eyes, her life flashed before her eyes. Hey, was she really an idol before? Did she really give that life up?

And then she saw nothing, and felt nothing, and felt no one.

She was alone.

Did she really give that life up?

* * *

 _A/N: And scene._

 _So._

 _This story; how do I put it? It's an attempt at putting together story elements with musical ones-repetition, primarily, and matching character quirks to recurring elements. Poetic wordplay that doesn't make much sense unless you're the one who wrote it. Chapters treated more like verses._

 _Whatever it ends up being, I hope-I'll try to make it an end that deserves an applause._

 _Let me know if I'm off to the right start._


	2. Chapter 2: She and her Trials

Sing for the Queen; She and her Trials | Chapter 2

* * *

 _Last Chapter: Everyone stands and falls, one at a time like dominoes, defending a ring Rise's learned to hate. When the dust settles, it does so around Rise._

* * *

"Lady Risette?"

Rise stirred, and felt gravel abrade against her as she did.

"Lady Risette."

She shifted again, and it felt like her bones were scraping against each other. As much as she'd rather fall back into what felt like a restless sleep, the dull screech in her ears made it feel like her mind was on fire.

" _Lady Risette_."

Rise opened her eyes to corroding metal bars and bricks lit by torch light.

"Wh-" she started, but the words were sand grating her throat as they fell. She coughed, then squinted and blinked until her eyes adjusted to the dim firelight.

"Sleep well?" asked Souji, perfect face outlined like a statue of polished stone.

Rise shook her head, then pulled her legs under her – only then feeling the weight and hearing the chime of chains buckled around her ankles.

She reached down to touch them - "W-wh– " - and saw the cuffs around her wrists as well.

Souji's voice – the only grounding thing right now – pulled her attention back. "I'm sorry about those. The lieutenants got to you before I did."

Rise swallowed hard, nearly sending herself into another cough. "Wh-what? What's going on, Senpai?"

Souji visiblyflinched, looking troubled. "I - ah, Lady Risette. I am Colonel Seta, of the Parish Defense."

That made things less clear, and Rise was trying to look through mud as it was. "What's that even mean?"

"It means," he said carefully, levelling Rise with an unfamiliar gaze, "you have been captured."

* * *

Rise used to think there was nothing worse than amateur truck tofu, but the grainy, rice-mush Souji – _Colonel Seta_ – gave her was in its own league.

At least the water was normal. Nothing else here was.

Rise stabbed the spoon into what was left of breakfast and watched it stand there. She crossed her arms, numbly rubbing her wrists from under the rotting cuffs.

According to Colonel Seta, she was a prisoner of the Parish, locked away for her crimes, and was allowed to know nothing more than that until further council decision. But she could have breakfast if she wanted, which she only said yes to in hopes that he would come back with the rest of the team in some stupid surprise party.

Except she didn't _know_ what happened to her friends, and last she remembered, was ambulance road-kill – but then this wasn't all that great either, even if she didn't know what _this_ is, whatsoever.

Rise rolled the ring on her finger, feeling a bitterness at the fact that _that_ was still safe as planned, when more important things – _people_ – weren't.

A loud creek of metal hinges weighed heavy by door sounded a little ways off.

"Sen-Seta? Colonel?" Rise called out. A distant, distracted part of her mind thought it was kind of, really cool that in this dream-or-illusion-or-purgatory, her senpai was such an honourable colonel of all things.

When he came into view, he bowed his head slightly. "Lady Risette, Her Majesty wishes to see you."

Rise had no reason to fuel the sudden hatred that fired up inside her, but she decided that it was probably this Highness's fault that she was locked up. Maybe she even had a part in attacking the peaceful TV World.

"Well, she can come down _here_ if she wants." Rise crossed her arms, with a disarming confidence for someone who just sassed their captor. "I even have dinner to share, if she'd like."

Souji looked at her with his detached stare – the one he used before – and spoke in a somehow disappointed voice. "You don't have a choice in that: you can only choose to do this by your will or against it."

It was the tone of voice he used that pushed Rise into silent submission: something in it she'd never heard from him, something _uncompassionate_.

He watched her, and maybe the way she felt showed on her face, because his softened.

"She will be just," he said as he opened the door, but she barely heard it over the creak of rust.

Rise stayed quiet as Souji fiddled with the chains and unlocked them from the wall. He held the length of the links in his hands, and they clattered as he motioned ahead.

"Shall we, Lady Risette?"

Well, she wasn't being treated like a lady, or much like even a person at all. But she stayed quiet as their footfalls echoed against the crumbling stone walls that followed them for the next few uncomfortable minutes if silence. When the stairs stood before them, climbing so steep they were lost under the canopy's shadow, Souji took the lead, two steps at a time while Rise had to skip to keep up.

After maybe fifty stairs, they reached a landing with a looming, wooden door barricaded shut.

"What else do you keep down here?" Rise asked in a low voice.

Souji looked like he was about to answer, but instead said, "We are about to enter the throne room."

It sounded like a warning more than anything.

As Rise tried to get _some_ sort of answer from that, Souji placed his palm against the door, waited, and pulled it back as soon as the door began to swing open.

"Wait," Rise started as the pushed through the exit, "what did –"

"The barre is for show," Souji said, and maybe he took a bit of happiness from Rises surprise. "And the magic, even more so."

Rise was no stranger to magic – she'd seen it, and scanned it – but to see it applied to the real world was almost otherworldly.

Then again, she was in another world all together, probably. The sky could be the limit, or there could be none at all.

Leaving the dungeon was like entering an entirely new world: alabaster pillars lining white walls decorated with royal blue banners and nine-foot windows. They walked upon a blue carpet that ran the expanse of the porcelain floors that may as well be _glowing_ for how clean they were.

Rise took the entire thing in with the same excitement she remembered walking into her first professional recording studio in.

Gee, did _that_ feel like a lifetime ago.

Before she could see, scan, it all – If she ever could, it was so big – Souji spoke in a low, sturdy whisper.

"Look sharp."

As they turned the left and stopped, Rise pulled her attention back and looked ahead, staring down a long, windowless room lit by what looked like white fireflies gathered in glass torches strung along the walls.

At the very end, perched proud upon an intricate, golden throne, was a lengthy woman in robes of mercury. Her gaze, cold and detached, seemed to weigh Rise down more than the chains around her.

Souji bowed, low and long, and spoke without getting up. "Your Majesty, I bring you Lady Risette."

Every sense in Rise told her to run – run, like they did before, like only one thing could save them – but was held captive, frozen by the eyes of royalty.

A pause, one that held a corpus of power, and Izanami spoke in a self-perpetuating echo.

"Bring her forward."

Rise caught herself almost begging Souji not to; she caught Souji hesitating, if just slightly.

He walked her down the room, into the shadows that were parted by fragile white lights.

When they stopped, Rise could see Izanami's mouth, creased into a frown that almost disappeared, and her silver hair, shambolic despite tied into a high bun.

Even still, Rise couldn't sense anything _human_ in Izanami, and that frightened her to the core.

They both stopped at the foot of her throne and waited, as if even dust couldn't fall without Izanami's permission.

She cocked her head, ever so slightly, and said, "Lady Risette. You stand before the law bearing crimes against the people."

Even if Rise could bringer herself to argue, she felt like words could do nothing in the presence of Izanami.

"You are guilty of theft of peace, of wealth, of hearts, and of lives. The blood of the innocent stain your hands, and their suffering stain your name."

By some miracle – maybe the disbelief in being held in archaic-style trial for things she'd never do – Rise managed to croak, "N-no. I did none of that."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Souji wince.

"Dare you speak, and speak in lies?" Izanami said, dangerously steady for all the malice in her voice. "You stand here not to defend yourself, but to face justice. For murder, and for corruption."

She paused, but the words lingered.

"Your only atonement is death."

For the length of a second, Rise felt the ground pull away from under her feet before it actually did. In quick succession, without a chance for her, the chains dropped to the ground in a heavy clatter, and the ceiling came down over her.

Something black, stiff, and _void of life_ wrung her by the neck.

Rise had felt choked before: when she was kidnapped and that soaked cloth was stuffed in her mouth; when she first quit the idol life, leaving her with a choking feeling; when she met Senpai, who took her breath away. Running, singing, fighting, screaming had all left her catching her breath.

But suffocating was a feeling she never could have imagined: it gripped her by the throat and eyes and mind until black creeped over her vision and blinded her. For the agonizingly long wait, her mind was consumed by the single survival instinct to _breath at all costs_.

Suffocating, Rise decided, was the worst way to die, because it took away your final words and final thoughts in lieu of a gripping panic.

And, in a moment where Rise _knew_ she was dead, she heard Izanami.

"May Hell show restraint on your wretched soul."

* * *

"Lady Rise?"

Rise stirred, and felt gravel brace against her as her bones scraped against each other. She felt air creep into her withered lungs, and, like a starved animal, devoured it until she choked and coughed.

"Are you all right?" she heard, just barely, over her hacking. She answered with more coughing until she could steady herself with one shaky breath after another.

She looked up, tears pinching her eyes, at Souji.

"Lady Risette?"

Rise shook her head, and spoke in a broken stutter. "Sh-sh-she, she – Izanami, she-she k-k- _killed_ me, she killed me, she –"

Souji touched her hands, and wrapped them in his. They were firm, warm, unwavering.

"Nothing has happened. You are safe. The lieutenants are gone."

Rise hiccupped and drew their hands closer to her. "S-senpai?"

Souji made a face – strikengly familiar – and said, "I am Colonel Seta, of the Inaba Parish."

Though still shaken, Rise managed to pull her thoughts together enough to process Souji's reaction: the same one he gave her _last time_ she called him Senpai.

"You-you already told me that."

Souji shook his head. "I can assure you this is the first we've ever spoken."

Something wasn't right.

Well, in this upside-down world she was thrown in after running for her life she lost, something else was wrong.

Her confusion must have shown on her face, because Souji added, "Do you know why you are here?"

 _No_. She knew nothing right now.

"You are a prisoner of the Parish."

* * *

The walls and floors, blindingly white, greeted Rise like an omen.

She had half-heartedly tried to explain to Souji that this had all already happened, they had met and had the trial and she _died_ for it, but it never translated over.

All it did was bring a disturbed Rise and unsure Souji before Izanami, who sat curled to her throne and watched them lifelessly.

It sent a panic, a magnified fear that shook her very soul, down Rise's spine to her feet that took a few shaky steps back.

Souji looked back at her, concerned, but when Izanami ordered thmn to, "Come forward," he turned away and gently pulled her chains forward with him.

He bowed, speaking without rising. "Your Majesty, I bring you Lady Risette."

And when Izanami spoke, it vibrated, resonated.

"Bring her forward."

Rise shook her head – hell, her _everything_ was shaking – and spat out a sharp, "No!"

"Dare you try yet more to escape fate?" Izanami said, sounding spiteful. " _Bring her forward_."

Souji hesitated, gave Rise a side long look that was full of confusion and pity, and walked forward, pulling Rise's chains with him.

Rise, for her part, dug her feet into the ground, but could hardly expect it to hold when she was trembling from the spine down.

Still, she had resolve enough to appeal for her life. "I-I didn't kill _anyone_! I'd never – "

Izanami's eyes, half-lidded, looked down on Rise in scrutiny. "When she speaks, she lies."

"No –"

"So she may speak no more."

This time, Rise saw Souji stepped back and stare at her in – in _fear_? – before she was ripped off her feet and into air she couldn't breathe in.

Choking to death, it seemed, was no easier the second time.

Dying, none the easier done thrice.

* * *

"Lady Risette?"

This time, Rise bolted up, wheezing and holding her throat in her hands where fear and Izanami's darkness gripped her.

God, did she just _die again_? Killed? _And back_?

It was insane. All of this was, and everything that happened. It just didn't feel real.

Maybe she'd wake up to the smell of her Grandma's bland cooking, go to school and handle all the fans still scouting her, lose focus in class and doodle hearts in her notebook, and tease Kanji just to get this nightmare out of her head.

But her denial – her hope – was nothing more than a wispy cloud in the haze of terror and dread building inside her.

"I'm here," said Souji, and for a moment, Rise was on the floor of a club, blinded by fog and a Shadow.

Rise gulped, breathed in heavily, and looked at Souji.

"Senpai?"

He recoiled, opened his mouth, then frowned.

"I am – you've been – you're a prisoner of the Parish."

"I know," Rise said slowly, trying to find more clarity. She decided sharing her thoughts would be as good a start as any. Calmly, so that maybe this time he wouldn't look at her like some pity case. "And you're Colonel Seta, of the Parish."

He nodded, cautiously. "I don't believe we've met before."

"We have," Rise said, and drew her knees close. She hesitated, but told herself if she could trust anyone, it was Senpai – or the boy who seemed to be him. "We-we've had this conversation before. And you have to take me to – to Izanami."

"Her Majesty," Souji said solemnly.

"And there's some faux trial, and she kills me. And then – " she shrugged and motioned around her, but it came out as a shiver " – we go through this all over again."

Vague as it was, insane as it would be to believe, Rise knew Senpai would – and when Colonel Seta nodded once, silently, she just _knew_ this was him, in some way. In the same way that all his Personas were still him.

"I would like to think she'd take mercy," he said steadily, almost warily, "but I know Her Majesty more than I owe her."

Well, that brought her back to where she was last time, and that ended the same way every time did. "Is that why you follow her?"

He shook his head. "I do not _follow_ , I pledge my loyalty. I'm sorry."

Before Rise could ask why, Souji held his palm out, hovering just in front of her forehead, and blinked.

The air seemed to hover for a moment, and then stretch out thin. Rise, breathing, felt a sudden drowsiness overcome her, equal parts peaceful and petrifying.

"She will be just," she heard Souji say from far away, long ago. But Rise was already floating away, lost in a thought she couldn't remember.

Somewhere, some part of her screamed and tore at the fog around her, but the rest found tranquility in getting lost in the nothing.

She was floating, suspended in air, at ease. Forever, for a moment.

And then she was pulled down by the neck, back into the fray.

* * *

"Lady Risette?"

This time, Rise was pissed. Because there even had to be a _this time_.

"Just take me to her."

Souji – _Colonel Seta_ – paused, and looked – _had the audacity to look_ – bothered by her willingness.

He mumbled something, just barely, before saying, "She will be just."

"She will be cruel," Rise retorted, just short of a mocking tone – because she was still talking to Souji, even if he was on the other side. "And you are a slave to her."

While he unlocked Rise's locks from the walls, he stayed quiet. It wants until he opened the door, motioned her to go first, and sighed when she stubbornly stayed still that he said, "She's protecting the Parish; we want to protect the same things."

Rise could answer that, but her heart wasn't in it when Colonel Seta looked so much like Souji, honest and steadfast. As much as she hated it, she felt rueful for being so upset with him at all, and then upset with him for fighting something she had no knowledge of.

But that didn't mean she was walking right into her death again.

They walked the now-acquainted dungeon halls in silence, with Rise doing her best to keep her panic inside.

She was faced with two issues: very few choices to start with, and almost nothing to go off of in this strange new world. Did she have a limited number of revivals, and were they dependent on the same energy the Personas drew from, or was it a finite number of times? Where was she now, and _why_ was she _now_? Who could she trust, what was the truth?

And: what could she do to survive?

She couldn't feel her Persona, and she felt as powerless as she did when she first returned to Inaba – she forgot how empty being so _normal_ felt – but she remembered the way to the throne room.

Or, the way that didn't lead there. And she remembered how to run for her life, regrettably.

An anxious energy seized her, threatened to trip her up before she started at all. She continued to look over at Colonel Seta's back, and wondered just how far his magic tricks could reach if she did bolt for it.

But as far as she knew, she had as many shots at this as she could handle anyway, and maybe, just maybe, she would get some answers, finally. And her friends.

It was a desperate measure, but it was better than dying by Izanami's hands in a way that only got harder each time. So when Souji held his palm against the door and opened it, and once more offered her to go first, she acquiesced.

Almost too naturally, she said, "I'm sorry," before pushing Seta over the top step, grabbing the length of chains out of his arms and darting out the door.

It was an effort, carrying the entire weight of the shackles herself while running, but she hoped both that the stairs were as steep as the felt every climb, and that Seta would take some sort of sympathy and let her go.

It was less than a minute before Rise was gasping for air and going at no more than a trot down white halls that all looked the same. For all she knew, she could be running into some army-wing and into her death.

Doubt formed in her mind, and festered when she came to a four-way divide. With her streak of luck, she could have a 75-percent chance of choosing the exit and still run right back to Izanami.

But just thinking about Izanami, about her trial, snapped Rise back into her fight-or-flight mode, and she took the right.

Just as she entered the new corridor, she felt something grab onto her, and imagined black spider legs around her throat for a moment.

Rise heard a muffled, "Whoa!" and fell through what felt like a door before dropping to the ground, the chains landing with the loudest rattle she'd ever heard.

Just as she thought it, the voice – oh, if she weren't such a mess right now she'd be able to say _exactly_ who it was – shushed the chains in what was a counter-productively loud, "SHHH!"

Rise pushed herself up, propped against her aching arms, and turned to look over her shoulder when she heard the door slam.

Yosuke stood with his back against the door. "Hey there, Risette!"

Rise blanched, stared, and – in a moment too much like the life she missed so much so soon – spoke up before he could make a comment about her staring. "Y- _Yosuke_?!"

"You know me?" he asked in awe, perching forward. Then he pulled upright again, grinning far too wide. "Oh man, they'll eat their words when I tell 'em!"

She should have started running again, but the surprise and the fatigue and the chains kept her rooted in place. "What's going _on_?"

Yosuke took a step forward, looked back at the door and fiddled with the handle, and then scurried up to Rise dropping beside her.

" _What's going on_ is that the hero's found the renegade," he said, sounding excited. Then, reaching out to the cuffs around her wrists, said in a too-quiet murmur, "But you don't look like you _could_ massacre a village, do you?"

* * *

 _A/N: And thus ends chapter 2, leaving more questions than answers. Chapter 3 should settle everything, though, and carry us into an entire epic of - whatever this will be._

 _Also, the Last Chapter summary piece is a thing I borrowed from zero-damage's The Shortest Distance (brilliant read, btw)._


End file.
